Thunder Before the Lightning
by CartoonFanFic-Addict
Summary: When a human is launched into a world of friends, he adapts and befriends the inhabitants. Feelings blossom, and he learns to call this place home. But will the power of friendship be enough against powerful dark forces that strive to destroy everything he ever loved? Or will he collapse and fail his friends?
1. Prologue Part 1

MULTIPLE DISCLAIMERS: I DO NOT own MLP or any of their characters. I do own my own OCs but that's within the MLP world, so...credit where it's due. Secondly, I have never served in the military nor do I have any hands-on experience with guns. I am too lazy to search things up, so some things might be inaccurate. Along with that, there will be mature scenes of violence, language, and probably sex in the future, probably not this episode, though. Just letting you know.

...

John activated the windshield wiper as the rain pounded his Sedan relentlessly. He looked over at the passenger seat and at his equipment. It was a standard assault rifle: a trusty mechanism that the American Armed Forces used. Along with it, a Glock 17, a medkit, camo backpack, flares, a hunting knife, ammo, rations for weeks, and many other goodies of the sort.

John was not a veteran fighter by any means, but he wasn't new to the battlefield or deaths, either..he witnessed countless soldiers die, good men, right next to him, but he had uncanny luck when it came to avoiding gunfire. That was the main reason he was headed home to his girlfriend in Texas.

However, the weather was acting in unusual ways as he made his was across a road on the side of a mountain. The rain was pouring and visibility was low. Thunder was cracking loudly and the ground rumbled.

John felt something vibrate in his front pocket of his camo combat pants. He brought out a device and saw the message: "Stay safe, sweet Sully. It's raining hard." He smiled. Ironically, and unbeknownst to him, the message was a trigger to the clusterfuck of events that would change his life forever.

He began texting his girlfriend back, when a huge lightning bolt shot in front of his car. The sharp light blinded him temporarily, but he still lost control of both the wheel and his phone and began swerving on the slick road.

He tried regaining control in vain. The car smashed onto the railing, and his car lept into the air and began down the side of the mountains.

 _So this is how I die. Not in the heat of battle alongside my fellow brother or protecting my country. Just another car accident to add to the statistics… wait, no. I'm not going to die. I've been in Hell, spat in the Devil's face and made it back. Some shitty weather and slippery roads isn't gonna kill me…_

He saw the ground rapidly approach him, and he somehow untied his seatbelt, opened the door, and lept out in the span of 3 seconds. He flew into trees at a dangerous speed. The last thing he saw was the trees and a big explosion of where his body would have been before black took over and he fell unconscious.

…

John woke up with a headache that made him want to have stayed in the car and died. He attempted to open his eyes, and was greeted with searing pain. He decided to keep them close for a minute.

He felt his whole body was stiff. He felt a liquid running down his right arm and on his torso. He felt a river of blood he had made upon his arm. He needed medical equipment before he could treat himself from bailing out of a car at high speed, and he needed to do so quickly.

He felt around the ground.

 _Grass. Rocks. Backpack. Wait, backpack? I don't remember grabbing my backpack. Gun! How in the fuck is everything here with me! Who fucking cares! My shit is with me!_

He grabbed his medkit and stitched his arm and torso with his eyes slightly open, accompanied by grunts and moans of pain. He successfully stopped the bleeding, and his arm was now in a bandage.

John did a little victory dance before finally opening his eyes fully. His eyes adjusted to the view around him. The trees looked… friendly? Was that the word? Yeah. Friendly. Sort of. He took a look at the world around him. Something seemed..off. He shook his head to wake himself. He loaded his gear onto himself and began searching for a clean water source. To his surprise, he didn't have to go far to find one. He set up camp and filled various canteens with the clear liquid.

 _Okay. Camp is set up just in case I don't find anyone within three hours. Now where the hell am I? This doesn't look like Texas. How far did I fall… great, just fucking great._

John began entertaining himself with his equipment. He cleaned his rifle and Glock and knife dozens of times. He checked his equipment and split rations to last him two weeks. He began scouring for nuts and berries. He came across green berries and picked them. He made sure the berries didn't smell toxic or acidic. They were quite sweet and tropical, like grapes and citrus combined. John quickly realized he would be unable to use his gun properly without risking the stitches to pop or the bandage to become loose. He decided to rest and start collecting wood tomorrow for a shelter. But for now, he slept on cool grass and a blanket that was within his backpack.

Meanwhile, at Canterlot Castle,

Princess Celestia felt a surge of magic coming from close to Ponyville. She had felt such a magic before only once. Celestia had an unpleasant experience tied to the surge of magic. She grew worried for her faithful subjects and sent a message to Twilight. Along with a dozen of her guards.

John woke up refreshed at the time before the sun came up. He somehow could already flex his arm and his torso was almost healed.

 _Was it those berries? I'll make sure to grab more and make ailments from them. They sure did patch me up quicker than my trusty medkit._

John did just that. He grabbed bushels of the green berries and mashed them into a green elixir and filled one of his canteens with it. He labeled it with a cross using his knife. Quite handy.

John felt his tent would not suffice and started collecting wood to make a bigger tent. He started off collecting all the nearby planks and logs. Then, he hacked some trees with his hunting knife and collected some more material.

 _I swear my nephew would be out of his fucking mind if he saw me doing whatever he does in that game of his. Speaking of animals, where are the animals? I need me some protein._

John looked around as he was collecting wood. There were no animals in sight. Almost as if they all ran away from something alien to them.

When John collected, what he thought was enough to start a frame of a small house, he set all the wood in a neat pile. He looked at all of his material he was going to work with.

 _Thank God for majoring in architecture. I really didn't use it during my years in the army. Now it's useful. Kind of._

John was no innovator, but he did a mighty fine job building a small house...frame. In 3 hours. Still, he was satisfied with his handy work. He moved his tent temporarily inside the house frame. He decided to take a nap…

" _Johnson! Get your ass on that fitty, now!" John sprinted and ducked around gunfire before mounting the machine gun. He rained hell on the fuckers until he didn't hear any enemy gunfire. "Great work Johnson! We need to move up and secure th- agh sunnuvabitch!" The higher officer fell as he took sniper bullets through the thighs. "Sir!", screamed Johnson as he ran towards his downed superior. He grabbed the downed soldier and dragged him behind a concrete pillar. "You listen to me soldier. Take this. Go west until you find Alpha squad. Complete the mission soldier!", barked his superior. "Sir I can't leave you here. They'll kill you!", replied John. The officer put a hand on John's shoulder. "It's alright, soldier. You are the finest motherfucker I've ever had the pleasure to command. Now go! That's an order!". John reluctantly left his officer. John could still see his officer as he left. His superior took out a long cigar and lit it. He took a long puff of it before throwing it on the ground. He took out a pistol. "Those sonsobitches. Arghhhhh!" His superior launched himself out into the open and brought down four enemy soldiers with him before another sniper shot him once more. John could only smile. This is the way his superior officer always wanted to go. Bringing down some with him._

John woke up sweating. And crying. "Damnit. Why him? Arghh!", he got up and brought out his combat knife. He looked at a tree and began releasing stress.

The tree was left to a simple stump. John was now sweating and lying on the ground doing his 200th push-up before starting on his 200 sit-ups, his body toned and defined due to years of harsh training.

A certain Princess of Dreams had left the dream of the strange individual. She had never seen such creatures before. She had to tell Celestia. She might know what it was and what to do..

John was done with his stress work out before he began to finish the house. He had enough wood and now needed mud and grass to keep everything together. He finished his house within five hours and the sun was now high in the sky. He decided he needed to wash off the dirt and grime in the pond he had seen.

After washing and changing back into his combat attire, John drew out a map of what he thought was Texas. "Alright. So I should be here. But wait. That makes no sense. No water is supposed to be near here."

John grew frustrated and threw his map back inside his backpack.

 _Okay. So I don't know where my phone or I am. Great. Should I use my flare? Wait, where the fuck is my car?_

It finally dawned upon John that there was no wreck as far as he could see. There should have been at least a fire. But alas, our fellow protagonist is further away from home than he could ever expect to be.

John huffed and sat in his small house..on the dirt.

 _I need chairs. And a table. And maybe even pottery. So much to do._

John decided to distract himself from his current predicament by building chairs, tables, pottery, and even a small container for small objects. When he was done, night time had fallen once more. He threw together leaves and made a comfortable, at least for him, makeshift bed. He laid down and soon slept..

 _John ran towards his destination. He took out his assault rifle and readied it. A squad of enemy soldiers ran into him and had no time to react as John filled them all with lead. He continued onwards. "Where the hell is he? Where are they?", John heard from inside the torn down house where he needed to deliver the Package. He took a silent look at the inside of the house and his blood chilled. All of Alpha squad were being held hostage by a dozen enemies: terrorists. He had little time to come up with a plan. He got an idea. "Where is it? Give it or your precious soldiers will start to die!" Clunk! "What the hell was that?" His plan worked. He had thrown a rock through a window directly to the opposite side of the room from the window. The terrorists all naively turned at the same time, which gave John enough to to burst in and kill five terrorists before they had time to react. The remaining seven turned, only to have two more go down at the hands of John's handy rifle. John's eyes widened as he saw the five took aim at him. He only had one second to leap behind a crevice in the wall, barely dodging the barrage of bullets. By this time, Alpha Squad was on their stomachs to avoid being caught in the crosshairs. That gave John the chance to safely throw a flashbang in. The flash banged and four of the five remaining terrorists were mowed down by John, and the last one John hit with the back of his rifle, knocking him out. He untied Alpha Squad and gave the Package to the squad leader. They were completely at a loss of words. One man took down a dozen and was unscathed._

" _Well, I'll be fucked. Looks like you got it. Now where's your man?" The Alpha Squad leader asked._

" _He went out the way he wanted to go out," said John slowly._

" _Aww fuck. Damnit." Was all he could say before a loud rumbling came from outside._

" _Enemy heavy incoming!" BANG. John watched as the building he was in began collapsing. He sprinted toward the door and managed to escape the collapsing building. When he reached outside, he quickly turned and was faced by a large pistol._

" _Fuc-" BANG._

John woke up screaming as an old battle scar seethed. The scar covered part of his right eye all the way back to his ear. He put his hand over his right temple, home of the scar that had challenged the best medic there was. At a cost, he remembered being told. Part of his right brain was damaged. The emotional part.

John quickly got up and suited himself with all of his gear. He decided he had waited long enough. It was time to go out and hunt.

…

Twilight received an urgent letter from Celestia claiming a powerful surge of magic was released from somewhere inside a forest neighboring the Everfree Forest. She had paid no mind to the actual letter, but rather at the dozen guards she had sent along with the letter that were now at the front of her castle.. "Hi, um, what are you here for?" Twilight asked nervously. She might be a powerful alicorn, but twelve seasoned guards were no joke. "We came here to protect Ponyville until the situation is resolved," loudly announced the leader of the group. "Okay, you guy can patrol Ponyville and call me if you find anything." Twilight closed the door to her Tree. She looked back at the girls. They were standing right behind her and all six of them were thinking the same thing. What has arrived in Ponyville?

…

John was slowly walking toward the edge of the forest. He could see small houses in the distance.

 _First, a water source where there is none. Now, a village in the middle of nowhere? Where am I?_

He froze as he saw something move closer to the edge of the forest.

 _Is that a horse? Wait, are these horses small and wearing armor? And spears! Where the hell am I-? Oh no. Oh no no no no. Now my niece would wish she was here. But how? It's just a cartoon, for fucksake! What is a soldier doing in a world of ponies!_

Yeah. Why is John in a world of ponies? (Stop breaking the fourth wall). Anywho, John could only watch as about a dozen ponies in guard outfits passed the area. He realized he was going to be in this world for some time.

John made a run for the bigger forest. If only he would've known better. Or maybe his niece could have told him not to go in a big, scary forest alone. But I guess it's just plot.

John gripped his assault rifle close to him as he made his way deeper into the dark forest. He observed various flowers and berries and decided to record and study them. He took out a brown leather-bound book and a quill. He sat down and drew various berries and ruptured some to observe their smell, consistency, and, if he deemed safe enough, taste. He worked diligently and recorded more than a hundred different fauna. He experimented with their effects, mixing sedative plants with herbal ailments to create powerful elixirs and had to drink some of his canteens to fill them with the potions. He marked each one with a very specific mark, making sure he wouldn't confuse one with another.

Suddenly, he heard rustling from behind him. He pushed his body onto the ground and held his rifle parallel to his body. What he saw almost made him scream.

 _AHH! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?_

It was a wolf made of timber. A timberwolf. But it wasn't alone. Soon, seven timberwolves were in John's view. He remembered how he chopped the tree. He now grinned as he unsheathed his hunting knife, unbeknownst to the pair of eyes that were observing him. When one of the timberwolves was close to him, he leaped out from his spot and sliced its leg off. The timberwolf yelped in surprise rather than pain before quickly turning to John. The seven timberwolves began closing in on him. He saw as the timberwolf he had hit first showed no real sign of pain. He ducked as the first timberwolf sprang at him, jaws poised to bite. John was now surrounded completely by seven timberwolves. Normally this meant death and destruction for the poor victim. However, the poor victims here were the timberwolves. He concentrated on his ears. He heard one move from behind him. He quickly turns and sidestepped the claws. He quickly jabbed his knife into the head of the timberwolf and tore apart its head. He saw as the it tumbled to the ground in a heap of wood. He smiled..

John was now carrying a rather large pile of wood towards his camp.

 _Nice little work out. Hope they come again._

He worked on learning from the book he had written in. He observed the notes he took. There were purple flowers for insomnia. Red flowers induced adrenaline. Black flowers.. let's just say black flowers gave a certain prowess when mixed with red ones.

There was a flower for just about anything. He was amazed at the fauna he had found, collecting a sample of the flower if he couldn't make it into elixir.

 _I'm gonna need a lot more containers to make every flower in elixir._

He started by creating a small mud furnace. He would get mud and create a small container from the mud. He would shape the mud into various shapes that could hold liquids. A very time consuming task indeed.

However, as he worked on his fourth flask, he felt a pair of eyes had been watching him. He continued working like nothing was off.

 _How'd someone sneak up on me? They must have been really careful. But they're still watching me. I can still feel them. They're close._

John dropped a flask on purpose to bend down. He stayed crouched. He heard a rustling so faint that it could be confused for the wind blowing. But John knew better. John immediately sprang from his spot and dove towards the source of the noise. He could tell the culprit was surprised and was starting to attempt to flee. John was quicker. He fell on top of a small zebra. He pinned the zebra down by the torso. The zebra twisted its leg launched it with precision towards John's torso. John blocked the impact with crossed arms and was sent a foot back, almost losing his balance. The zebra thought this was enough to give it an opening to flee. Evidently, it had never met John before.

John quickly tackled the zebra and unsheathed the knife as it began to flail once more. He put it up to its neck and the zebra froze at the touch of cold metal.

"Don't. Move. Tell me who are you, what you are, and what you were doing staring at me from the brush, and I might let you live." John said slowly and deliberately.

"It is only a lonely zebra to which you speak. I was only curious of what you were and wanted to have a peek. Please, I mean no harm, so please put down your alarm."

"So it is true. I am in this world.. okay." John let the zebra go and stood up. He turned his back to go back to his tent.

 _Great. Just fucking great. I am in a little place with little friends. But how do I get back?_

"The name is Zecora. I am curious as to why you were examining flora," said Zecora, rubbing her sore ass and cold neck. "What do you plan, creature? And why is your body that distinctive feature?"

John stopped in his tracks. He turned to Zecora and said, "I guess you can call me John. Sorry about that. I'm just really tense now. I am a human. But you probably don't know what that is. So I guess I'm from another world called Earth. And I don't know how the fuck I got here." He grew quiet. "Sorry. Please, can you help?"

Zecora observed the strange creature that she had been observing for hours, had somehow heard her, launched itself, no, himself at her, and was now asking for help. She sighed. "If it is wisdom you seek, my knowledge is not for the weak. I can guide you if you so need me, but you must come with me for it to be."

John listened intently. He didn't mind her rhyming. It actually helped him understand. The zebra looked like the one he saw on Earth. He sighed. "Alright. There are a number of things you should be wary about, though. My possessions are mine. You stay away from them. I presume I will live nearby to you, correct?" John asked.

Zecora looked a bit uneasy, but still replied, "You are correct. A shelter for you we must erect, nearby to my own residence. And I'll make sure to avoid your possessions' presence."

"Alright. I'll grab my items. We'll be on our way in no time." John did exactly that. He grabbed his camo backpack, filled it with all of his original belongings, and then filled it with his new belonging. Potions, the book, and samples were all now in his backpack. His backpack was now about the size of Zecora.

Zecora raised an eyebrow as she saw John pick up the backpack with one hand and chuck it over his shoulder like a pillow. She assumed the item he had on his back didn't weigh much at all and kept on waiting for John to finish picking up his belonging.

Zecora grew curious as she saw him pick up a black metal object about the size of her torso. She looked at the shape of the object. It looked very alien to her; its shape a large, extended rectangle with various different shaped carved out of it. It had a nozzle attached, what she assumed, was the front. She kept glancing at the object before curiosity took over. "If I may ask, that object you hold; what is its function and task?"

John stopped and looked at her, then he looked at his gun. He was quiet for a moment...then,"In my world, conflicts and disagreements led to war. In the beginning, war was fought with sticks and arrows. As time went on, my people began fighting amongst themselves with more advanced weapons. These fighters were called soldiers, and each soldier was specialized to do a specific task to complete a mission. I.. am one of those soldiers. And this.. is my weapon.."

Zecora had plates for eyes by the time he was done with his monologue. She looked at the object with a tint of fear. She felt a shiver go down her back and started sweating profusely. She had been in the Everfree Forest for many years and faced many dangers. She had fought off many, and survived encounters with those far more dangerous than timberwolves. Yet, this being, this human, holding a piece of metal, made her nervous to a point where she was having second thoughts about having such a thing near her.

John saw the hesitation and stopped. He looked back at his little house and dropped his backpack on the grass.

Zecora flinched and suddenly realized how she came off as. "Please, wait! I only became slightly startled; I still want to help you and your fate. Do not mind me. A simple reflex is what it was ought to be." Zecora explained.

John smiled. "Okay. Lead the way."

…

"Twilight! No report for today! The forests seem clear!" The leader screamed, who turned out to be a soldier of Shining Armor.

"What did I say about screaming, Bash Stunner? Do you want me to call my brother and tell him one of his guards was screaming at his little sister?" Twilight asked coyly.

"No ma'am. Pardon my way of acting," replied Stunner quietly.

"Now go scream your recruits' heads off!" Twilight suddenly said, with enthusiasm, livening up the mood.

Stunner simply grinned before sprinting out of Twilight's castle.

Twilight was much more calm, and she had a good reason to be. Her friends and Ponyville were under high guard, and that meant protection.

"Twilight! I need, help!" Spike came in, scratching his scales. "It's. So. Itchy! I don't know how much more I can take!" Spike kept screaming out.

"Alright. Let's go see if Zecora is in her hut. She'll definitely know what to do with your itch. I mean, you already have wings. What could this itch bring?"

...

John had to take multiple trips to make sure he didn't leave anything behind. Unfortunately, the house had to stay. He didn't think it would be efficient to take a house one stick at a time. He built a similar shelter to the one he had previously built, only much bigger and added more mud and even some rocks to make it sturdier.

Zecora had him build the shelter on the side facing away from Ponyville. She deliberately did so to make sure no wandering ponies came across John. Unless they got lost and went the other way around. But no one ever does that.

…

"And we, are now lost." Spike groaned.

"No, we're not. Look here, it's a body of water. And.. what's that?"

Twilight pointed her hoof toward a weird shelter of some sort. It looked way to complicated to be of pony-made object. And it looked recently made.

…

Zecora studied John's book carefully. She had to admit, in the short span that she had seen him write, he had written such detail and fact about each flora. Zecora had her own research done about John.

She had studied his, hands? Yeah. That's what he called them. She wrote down other components of John. He was certainly a tall creature. He measured in at 6' 8", which made him tower over even the tallest alicorn, Celestia. Using some rather strange methods, John was surprised she could find his height, even more so when she told him he weighed just a bit over 170 pounds. Of pure muscle. He lacked one thing, though.. When Zecora asked if he remembered his world, he said yes. However, when she asked him if he missed being in his world, John just scratched his head. He really didn't feel..homesick. He couldn't _feel_ homesick. He decided to lie and said yes. Zecora shrugged at his hesitance and continued with her research.

She had analyzed some of John's teeth and was slightly unsettled by the fact that he had two pairs of canine. Zecora didn't even want to ask him about those.

By the time the sun was lowering down, John had went to sleep in his new home. Zecora stayed up for a while to make sure he didn't try anything stupid or any pony stumbled across him. After she decided it was safe, she went inside her own home.

After a couple of minutes…

"Hey, look, we're her- what's that?" Spiked asked as he realized there was a small wooden structure right beside Zecora's hut.

"Oh hey, look at that. Zecora must have been the one to build the other one. Only she could have made such a complex and weird structure." Twilight said as she approached the structure. "Hmm. I wonder if she's inside her hut or her new wood house thing." Spike asked.

"Only one way to find out."

" _The bullet was removed successfully, but I fear he may have some brain damage. A bullet that close to the brain is bound to do something." The medic reported._

 _John could hear him behind closed eyes._ So I'm not dead, _he thought. He opened his eyes and saw three people in the medical tent. He was still on his mission. He raised himself before the medic quickly realized what was happening. The medic quickly pushed John back onto the bed._

" _You really should not even be awake!" The medic explained._

" _I need to finish the missio-"_

" _You need to make sure you don't die!" An officer interrupted on the other side of the tent. There was a medic, officer, and technician all in one tent. Well, him as well._

" _You are the next in command after.. Him.. so make sure you make it out alive!" The officer kept going. "I already radioed a heli. You'll be extracted within 5. You did all you could. We have to go" The officer tried to explain._

" _What happened?" Was all John could ask before he heard two rapid booms in the background. He began to panic. The booms came again in the same pattern but louder._

" _We have to go. Now!" The officer screamed._

 _Boom boom!_

KNOCK KNOCK

"AUGH!"

"AHHHH!" All hell broke loose.

John awoke jerked upwards, swearing, sweating, and screaming. He had about two seconds to realize there was a purple pony with wings and a horn alongside a small dragon at the entrance of his home.

John, with no shirt, sprang out of his bed revealing a handgun. "Who are you? Are you working for them, too?" He screamed, still quite oblivious to what he was doing.

Twilight and Spike were screaming the moment they had entered the house. Twilight shot a burst of magic straight at John out of reflex. John's eyes widened as he finally came to. He put his arms to block the magic. He felt the impact and was flung backwards through his house, leaving a hole in his new home.

Zecora had heard commotion and was out. Her eyes widened at seeing a hole in the house. She quickly looked and saw Twilight and Spike. She started screaming.

John got up and dusted himself a bit. He saw burn marks on his forearms. He had completely blocked the burst of magic. However, his arms had taken all of the damage. He finally began to feel the pain. It was as if a searing hot plate of soup dropped on his arms. He picked up a twig and bit down. He completely ignored the frantic shouts of Zecora and Twilight as he went back into his house. He took out the canteen marked with an X and drank half of it in two gulps before pouring the rest onto both of his arms.

To the dismay of John, the pain continued, and he was left with a feeling of betrayal. Why hadn't the berries worked? He let the twig fall.

He came back to the situation at hand.

"What was that?", screamed Twilight and Spike in unison.

"Hold! Do nothing unless you're told!" Zecora somehow coherently screamed and rhymed.

"Ow. That hurt."

Zecora, Spike, and Twilight looked at the entrance of the house. John was busy bandaging his arms and checking for any other injury. When he found none, he looked back at the dragon and alicorn. Yes. He knew what she was now. How could he not?

Twilight and Spike's eyes widened. The thing could speak coherently and was sapient?

"Do nothing, either of the three of you. I will quickly explain what's true" Zecora finally spoke out. "This is John," she told Twilight and Spike, "and this is Spike and Twilight. Twilight," she told John. She broke her rhyme just this once to properly introduce them to each other.

"What is it?" asked Twilight, keeping her eyes on John as she leaned closer to

Zecora.

"I'm a human. But I doub-"

"A human!" Twilight interrupted. "Lyra's mad about them. How could I not know what you are!" Twilight asked rhetorically.

"There are other humans here?" John asked, intrigued.

"No, but now there is one. Usually Lyra reads books about anthropology and believes what's in it. Oh my Celestia! I can't believe she was right!" Twilight's eyes began growing in size as she was now imagining all the searching, researching, and re-researching she could do now.

"Uh. Is she okay?" John asked Spike.

"Don't worry. She'll eventually snap out of it. Wait, what exactly are you. A human. But what is that?" Spike asked.

"Well, I can really only say that, in my world, we dominate over most areas of the planet," John explained, "and so we form complex webs of communication and social status. There certainly inventions that make life better. However, one of my own devices was lost."

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I need you to follow me!" Twilight squealed as she bounded off. John was forced to comply and began following her, leaving with only a knife and his handgun. Spike and Zecora stayed behind to fix the itch he had come to her for in the first place.

Twilight was bouncing away and forced John to maintain a constant jog to keep up. They made it out into the clearing to find a dozen guards heading straight for the forest. The guards quickly changed trajectory. They lined up in front of John, and the leader quickly grabbed Twilight. "Stay behind us! We have found the culprit! Charge!" the leader exclaimed.

John sighed internally. He was getting real sick and tired of being attacked. John simply took out his Glock 17 and shot a round into the sky.

The sound was deafening for the guards: they fell to the ground, covering their ears. John walked passed them."Shall we continue?" John asked Twilight. Twilight just looked like a deer in headlights before snapping out of her thoughts.

"What was that device that incapacitated the guards? And why did you do that? You know how much trouble you can get in for hurting the guards?" questioned Twilight.

"Oh no," John feigned worry. "if only I had a pony that was royalty and willing to put out a word that so that I not be taken away," John said like a smart ass.

The remark went completely over Twilight's head, and she just took a quick glance at the guards, now nursing headaches, before quickly leading the way to her castle. They went around Ponyville, fearing anypony that could see John would panic.

John followed Twilight toward a castle of some sort. He didn't remember a castle back in his world, but that's most likely due to him ignoring the show when his niece would put it on. He waited near the door as Twilight went to her friends.

While waiting, John could see the dozen guards sprinting toward him. They looked mad.

"Fuck." was all John could say before he was barraged by spear jabs left and right. He barely had time to dodge the jab from the leader's spear. John unsheathed his knife, fearing that a killing a guard with his gun would indeed get him in more trouble, and quickly and started deflecting spears like a lunatic. Whenever one of the dozen guards launched a spear, John had to jump out of the way. He felt a spear graze by his leg and he quickly stood up and continued to deflect jabs.

He kept up deflecting the attacks from the dozen guards until he began to tire.

"You put up an admirable fight. But we are far more in numbers. Yield." commented the leader between jabs.

"Yeah?" huffed John. "What makes you think I'll give up? Just numbers? Funny! Here!" John quickly locked spears of two guards and punched where the spears interlocked. The guards fell back and into their comrades, and they began to fall like dominoes. The leader could only watch from the bottom of the pile as John quickly entered the castle.

"Get up! Up! After him!"

John caught his breath as he walked into the castle. He was lost in thought as he observed the wall designs and structure.

 _Very well structured. The frame seems to be built out of a very solid material. I don't think the material is Earth based or from Earth at all._

He came across large double doors and opened them.

…

"Twilight! Where've you been?" asked Applejack. Twilight rejoined the girls who were waiting for her. Twilight looked ecstatic as she began to say something so quickly, that even Pinkie Pie couldn't keep up with her.

"Twilight, dear! Calm down, you'll tie your tongue if you speak any faster." Rarity added.

Twilight simmered down before starting off again into a blubbering mess of words. However, before the girls could stop Twilight again, the door began to open.

Each pony began to think something different.

Twilight realized she had not explained what was coming. She began to feel a surge of panic as John entered the room.

Pinkie Pie's hair grew a grey pink as she felt the sadness, almost palpable, coming off of the great creature. The creature itself looked very friendly to Pinkie Pie. She could only wonder what horrible things John had to go through to have such a heavy aura around him.

Applejack's hooves stomped nervously as the huge creature drew its attention toward the group. Despite being foreign to her, she could tell it was fit for its species.

Rarity's horn dimly glowed as she held her horn readied in case this creature tried putting its weird appendages on her. They looked stringy compared to hooves.

Rainbow Dash's wings shook as the creature began to approach them. She tried flying, but her wings were glued to her back. She was the Element of Courage! Why was she terrified? It didn't make any sense!

Fluttershy's heart trembled, with a gripping sadness. She could tell something was very off from the creature. She could tell it was a he, and he was sentient. However, no real physical emotion was shown on his face. She had seen some of her animals with such a condition after a traumatizing fight or injury.

John was about to reach the group before the double doors burst open. The dozen guards encircled John and the Mane Six.

"Stop!"

The guards looked at Twilight, puzzled.

"All of you can go back to Celestia. He is with me."

"Who's he?" A guard asked, still keeping an eye on John.

"Well, that'd be me," John spoke up.

Everyone, except Twilight and Fluttershy, gasped at hearing the strange creature speak coherent words.

"It can speak!" exclaimed the dozen guards along with four of the six Mane Six.

" _He_ can speak." Twilight and Fluttershy correctly in unison.

"I can indeed. So sorry for not wanting to be poked or killed. You know, self defense is a thing." John deadpanned.

"Enough! Celestia told me to protect this town, and that is exactly what I'm going to do," screamed the leader before launching himself at John.

John stepped aside and avoided the attack.. Or so he thought.

The spear hit. Blood began to gush out from between the ripped skin and the spear. John shrieked before he began coughing crimson blood. The pony responsible hung onto the spear, further twisting the gash that was beginning to form on his chest. John gripped the spear in vain.

The pony thrusted and twisted the weapon further into John's exposed chest, eliciting a loud gurgle of what was John's attempt to scream. His right lung began to contract and fill with blood. The guard leader pushed the spear once more. A crunch could be heard as the spear made its way through the other side of John's chest, and blood began to squirt out from both sides of John's chest. John gurgled and began to choke on his own blood, panic surging through him.

Nevertheless, John was pale, and blood was running down his chin. His legs began to shake before he fell harshly onto the floor, struggling to keep his head upright. John lay in a small pool of blood that had begun to form, attempting to breathe with no success.

He lifted his head weakly and could see the leader step back, almost admiring the work he had done onto John.

He heard screaming and could see moving, but he hardly paid attention. John closed his eyes and collapsed onto the floor.


	2. Prologue Part 2

MULTIPLE DISCLAIMERS: I DO NOT own MLP or any of their characters. I do own my own OCs but that's within the MLP world, so...credit where it's due. Secondly, I have never served in the military nor do I have any hands-on experience with guns. I am too lazy to search things up, so some things might be inaccurate. Along with that, there will be mature scenes of violence, language, and sex in the future, probably not this episode. You know, mature stuff. Just letting you know.

John opened his eyes. He was in his room in Texas, laid upon his bed. Home. He raised himself up to a sitting position. "Was it all a dream?" He touched his exposed chest. No injury. "Huh. Guess I must have.." John grew confused. "But was the accident also a dream? The pain was so realistic." He stood up from his bed and began to walk to his door. He immediately knew this was not reality. He reached for the door, and it disappeared. A deep laugh resounded in his room. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

"My my, what do we have here?"

John turned around and froze. In front of him, was creature of many different paws, claws, and horns. Discord.

"What do you want, Discord?" hissed John.

"Oh my. You know my name. You flatter me." Discord replied, making himself a pink kimoit, completing the act by fanning himself with a fan.

"So what do you want?" kept asking John.

"You think that I want something and not just coming to say hi? You wound me, John."

"You know my name?"

"Of course. How would I not? Anything that causes chaos is immediately checked on. It is my policy. And when I felt Fluttershy fall into sadness, I could not ignore this event. So tell me, what are you doing here, John, or should I say, Terrorizer?!" Discord grew larger by two-fold and began to glow a red hue. His eyes were fire with anger.

To say that John grew nervous would be an understatement. He backed against the wall, which in response grabbed him by the wrists and ankles. He fought the wall, now alive, and broke chunks off of the wall, freeing himself.

Discord stopped moving towards him, eyes glinting in interest. "So you broke away from my magic? Interesting. Then, you are not the Terrorizer. Pardon my intrusion," he began to fade.

"Wait!"

Discord came into focus. He raised an eyebrow.

"Who was the Terrorizer, and where am I?"

Discord took a moment to think. Then he did. "The Terrorizer was a being similar to you. A human. He came into this world claiming peace. When he approached Canterlot, he took out items that looked strange. He.. killed some unlucky ponies that were walking by before guards could intercept him. His whereabouts are unknown after.. the little exchange that happened. A few guards also didn't make it out alive. A lot of ponies' memory about that day were scramble, by me of course. That was a tragic day.. and you are currently in a coma," quickly said Discord, changing the subject.

"So he painted a very bad picture for the human speci- wait what!? I'm in a coma?!"

"Yes. I think that's what it's called."

"What happened?!"

"Oh dear, it was a mess. When I came in, Twilight was screaming her head clean off. Poor, dear Fluttershy had fainted along with Rarity. The guard leader looked like he was being sent to death row.. actually I think he was."

"Just tell me what happened to me!"

"My my, aren't you patient. Well, you had a spear right through your chest, you looked whiter than Rarity, and there was lots of blood next to you. Frankly, I'm surprised your mind is still in tact. Usually, minds tend to break after such a traumatic event. Though, I can't seem to sense any physical emotion.."

"Can you help me?"

Discord stopped his thought. He looked at John for a moment. "I.. suppose I could. But, it will be mostly you who can wake yourself up. Alright, tell me, how do you feel about learning magic? Wait, it doesn't matter. You're welcome," and with that, Discord shot a beam of concentrated magic, albeit chaos, towards John. John could only accept fate as it was.

John slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw, was white. White walls, white floors, and white bed sheets. He was laying upon an elevated bed; a patient's bed. He could see he was attached to wires; advanced medical equipment, which frankly surprised him. Isn't Equestria stuck in a Medieval Era...oh wait. There are technological cities like Las Pegasus. So there is technology. He slowly lifted himself to a sitting position. He was in white scrubs.

Why are they so fascinated with white? And where am I?

John was alone in a clinic room. The door was currently closed, so he had privacy to look at what happened to his chest. When his white scrubs wouldn't comply, he tore them off. He was silent for a long moment. On his chest, a new scar stood defiantly. The scar had a pattern that looked similar to that of a large drop of water splattered on the floor and was about the same diameter as a baseball. The scar tissue was red in comparison to his normal skin color. He decided to leave it be.

John looked at the room he was in. Besides everything being white, he could see the door was painted blue.

Nice change of scenery. Talking about change in scenery.

John took a hold of the door knob and began to open it.

"What shall we do with him?"

"Is he dangerous?"

"Why is he sad?"

"Enough!" Celestia interrupted the disorder. About two dozen ponies dotted the main hall of the castle. The Mane Six were close by to Celestia, while several guards guarded the entrance doors and clinic door. There was a nervous aura that clung close to every pony in the room.

"I will go find my sister. All princesses, we will go to the planning room to sort this out", announced Celestia, but before any decisions could be made, the clinic doorknob started turning.

Everything went silent. At the entrance of the door, stood a tall creature. The creature had skin of a tan color of peach, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and defined facial features. The limbs of the creature were extended outward at a weird angle, at least to them, and the creature had smaller appendages on his large ones. The creature looked rugged, and his scrubs were torn open, revealing the scar he had recently added to his collection.

The silence hung, so when John cleared his throat, everyone jumped. "Hi. My name is John. Where am I?"

Everypony stared at John. They all had different thoughts, except for one that they all thought about in unison.

How is he awake?

Twilight took initiative and began to explain what little she knew. "This is a human. He is called John, like he already said. And.. I vouch for him."

All the ponies and John turned to Twilight, unsure as to how to react. She looked determined and set on keeping John from punishment.

"Very well. I will allow this only because you vowed for him. However, he must go through some tests and explain how and why he is here, and what his intentions are before he leaves." Celestia declared.

And so it began.

John was exposed to test after test. He was instructed first for the written physical part of the test. He was given a sheet to fill his species, genome, and so on. Afterwards, a doctor came in to ask about parts of the..human body? Yeah. She instructed him to strip and answer her questions. Hands, feet, toes, skin color, eye color and size, nails, height, weight, everything was scrutinised. And so a beet red doctor left the room after the reproductive part of the questioning ended.

The next round of tests, the next day, were vocal questions. He was asked how he arrived to Equestria. He explained the scene at the mountain and crashing. He gave little detail on his car, but he was still given a confused look from the interviewer. After answering the last question, John answering that he really didn't know what he was going to do in Equestria, he was given physical tests of endurance.

After beating the guards in the obstacle course by only a couple of seconds, he beat the pony record of push ups, sprints, and even fighting technique. The guards could only watch with wide open mouths as he was given compliments from Shining Armour himself.

"Quite fit, now, are you? Makes me wonder if you were a civilian in your world." Shining questioned. John quickly bid farewell as he was saved from questions that came from Shining. He was called to continue his tests.

John entered the room he was designated to. The room was a standard interrogation room, grey walls and grey table with opposite chairs. He took a seat at the far end. A mare in a black life suit, which shined blue, came in. She walked purposefully, swinging her hips with intention, and she sat at her chair. She carried a binder and pen with her magic onto the table. Her suit read the words HCNS. She fixed her stern gaze onto John. John stood his mental ground. She was going to try harder than that to psyche him out.

"John. Give your full name for the record." The mare ordered.

"John Hunter Sulivan. And your name is..?"

"Alright Mr. Sulivan. What was your occupation in your world?"

Rude. And fuck.

"Uh, how can I put it. I protected my nation."

"Can you be more specific?"

Nice.

"I used stuff to make sure bad people didn't do bad things to my country."

"Sulivan, I am not a fucking filly. Answer. The. Question."

"I was a soldier, okay? I used a weapon and killed other humans that had an agenda against my country and I'm proud of doing so!" shouted John.

The mare glared at John. "Refrain from raising your voice at me, Sulivan," she spat out, "just know, what I say goes."

John fell quiet and found a particular corner of the room very interesting.

"Scarlet. My name is Scarlet."


	3. Prologue Part 3

John looked away from the corner and to Scarlet. He could tell the name was very fitting of the mare. She had dark brown eyes, a neon red mane, and a crimson coat. She shuffled the files within the binder and began questioning again. This time, though, the exchange was much friendlier. John was given the clear to go afterwards.

He stepped into throne room. The princesses turned to him and smiled. "So you seem to have passed the tests. It seems you are not a threat to Equestria or the citizens within. Twilight, you may take him to Ponyville. Let him make some friends. We'll send out a message to make sure the citizens are ready," Celestia announced.

"But wait! John, don't you want to go back to your world?" asked Twilight, "I could search for a spell in the library."

"Uh, sure. Let's go, then."

John turned and walked into the hall, waiting on Twilight. Twilight cast a worried glance toward the princesses before following John.

Ponies on the train were not informed about John, so before John and Twilight boarded the train, he was cloaked by Twilight using a spell that turned him into a pony. He..agreed to it? Uh. Yeah. He did. And so after the light dimmed, John came into focus.

John stood tall. That was an understatement. Unfortunately, there was not much Twilight could do to hide the fact that John stood at the same height as his human form. Weird. Twilight remembered that she grew shorter when she went from her human form to pony. John wasn't affected for some reason.

John tripped multiple times. He wasn't so used to walking on all fours and walked slowly, a tremble in his step.

John agreed to be called Hunter. Just Hunter. In all actuality, the name fit John, Hunter, whatever. His cutie mark was given to him during transformation. It was a black rifle with bullet shells scattered around it. Quite unidentifiable to most in the pony world. But what was identifiable, was Hunter's, or John's, coloration. His horn, did I forget to mention he was a unicorn, was a dark shade of green, a military green, and his scar was amplified, covering a major part of his face. It ran from the left side of his chin, crossing his mouth, and diving upwards toward his right ear. His coat was a brownish-green, and his mane was as green as grass.

And so this pony of green texture, towering above all (and had a scary scar), was now taking up two seats next to Twilight on their way to Ponyville.

"Hey, Twilight. I think I should stay as a pony for now. I don't want them to avoid me for being me."

"Alright. But you'll have to reveal yourself later on, okay?"

"Uh, fine."

After the exchange, Hunter could tell he was being watched; he would swing his head and many faces would turn away. He really wasn't used to such attention, so it came to him as a relief when the conductor of the train announced their arrival.

Hunter ducked under the door frame and walked onto the station floor. He was pushing a rather large crate. He was given this crate by Twilight, which now led the way to the girls waiting for them, and he was told to keep an eye on it. He really didn't have a choice in the matter, so why bother?

Twilight reached the girls. And so did a very tall pony.

Applejack had to look up, like all of the girls, to properly look at the unicorn. She had never seen such a large stallion in her life.

"This stallion could easily buck half the trees in her orchard and barely break a sweat." Applejack whispered to herself.

Rainbow Dash flew up to meet the unicorn's eyes. He had a badass scar that made him look 20 percent cooler. He looked like he could camouflage in grass.

"Wow, badass." she whispered to herself.

Rarity hardly observed the unicorn. His mane was rugged, and the scar on his face made her nervous.

"What a slimy looking stallion. So green." She whispered to herself.

Fluttershy stood confused. She felt a sadness coming off of the creature. She felt the same when she met the John the human. She observed the creature. Her eyes widened as she spotted a scar upon the unicorn's face.

"John?" she whispered to him.

. But the whispered died before it could reach John; Pinkie Pie began her shenanigans as she welcomed the new pony into Ponyville. She began to sing as she brought out party items.

"Welcome! Oh welcome; a happy day to you! We'll share some laughs, we'll share some snacks: cupcakes green, red, and even blue! Oh happy day, oh happy day, make your dreams come true! So much to eat, people to meet, so much to do! Ohhhhh, welcome!"

The unicorn had a grin on his face by the end of the song. He now could see a small crowd around them. He, too, was amazed at the end product; a large table was set with colorful sheets: on the sheets were treats and cakes, balloons, and even some gifts all in colorful variations.

"Well, a thanks to you. My name is Hunter. Twilight here was gonna show me around town. I guess I'll stay here for now."

Ponies from town were now introducing themselves to Hunter. A special guest joined Hunter.

"My my, what a wonderful party. And to whom might this celebration be?" Discord appeared before Hunter, startling him.

"Ahhhhgh!" Hunter screamed and disappeared.

He reappeared upon a the table, splattering some of the treats in cold murder.

Twilight stared at John. Did he just teleport? But, but, it took me months. And he just…

As Twilight was having her little breakdown, multiple ponies helped Hunter out of the sticky mess he made.

Discord was amused. He floated up to Hunter, grin plastered on his face.

"My, how jumpy. Who might you be?" Discord poked playfully, a knowing gaze falling on Hunter.

John cleared his throat. "The name's Hunter. It's nice to meet y'all."

Discord looked at him, still amused. "Well, Hunter, I hope you fit in nicely into this nice quaint village. However, I need to talk to you. Alone." Discord's words came out with venom. John gulped. He disappeared with Discord.

John appeared before a strange house. He looked around, and he screamed like a bitch. "Where the hell are we?"

"Welcome to my residence. My very own pocket dimension. I rarely bring anypony over. Of course, Fluttershy being an exception, and now, you." Discord disappeared with a snap of his fingers. John sighed. He trotted up to the door. He stared at the door knob, to his hooves, and then up to his horn. He could use magic, so why not give it a go?

He wished the door to open. It stood there. He glared at the door. He focused on the doorknob. He squinted until his eyes were closed completely. The door stood staring back at him. He huffed.

He looked up at his horn. He stared at it for a minute or two. He closed his eyes and imagined a hands in his mind. He opened his eyes and, to his surprise, a green translucent hand had taken a hold of the doorknob. He twisted the doorknob and entered the house.

Inside the house, everything seemed fitting of the owner. A chaos that made Hunter smile internally. He spotted Discord upon, onto, clinging, to a recliner on the wall. Hunter shook his head as he took a seat on the couch that obeyed gravity.

"So, Hunter, that's your new name? I like the makeover, too. Tell me, what's the plan? When are you giving the big reveal, or are you going to just stay like that?" Discord kept going, talking over Hunter's attempts to answer.

"Hunter is my name. Well, part of it. This is a cloak, but a rather powerful one at that. I do plan on going back to my human form, and I guess Twilight's gonna look for a way back for me, so it doesn't really matter in which form I'm in," replied Hunter, a mug of brew appearing on the table before him. Discord's eyes shone with glee and interest.

"What a strong will you have. Craving a hard liquid?" Discord observed Hunter. He seemed oblivious to what he just did. Until he turned and saw upon the table a large mug filled with a refreshing brew.

"Wait, I did that?"

"Well, who else?"

"I guess since it's here already, might as well enjoy it." Hunter took the large mug into his hooves and hoisted it up to his lips. The drink went down fast, and the mug almost cracked as it came back down onto the table with a mighty thud. "Ah! That's good shit. Well, now that I'm here, what'cha need me for?"

"Oh, it's quite simple. You are to stay away from Fluttershy until you leave this world. Simple, right?"

John took a confused glance at Discord. "And why's that?"

"You give off a little somethin' that she picks up. Your perpetual sadness. And so you will stay away from dear Fluttershy, understood?"

"Hmph. I don't know if I have a choice. Fine. I'll try to keep a distance from her. But what if she comes to me?"

"I'll make sure she doesn't."

The statement made Hunter feel on edge. He took a look at his reflection in the empty mug. Still a pony.

"Alright then, if that is all, I have a celebration with my name on it to get back to." Hunter rose to his hooves and began toward the door.

"Ah yes. Here, let me give you a shortcut." Discord smiled and snapped his fingers, and Hunter disappeared. Discord's smile faded.

Pop!

Hunter came to high up. He froze and cursed right before gravity took over. He fell on top of a purple body.

"Oh sorry! Are you okay?" Hunter began to apologize. He then recognized the pony. Twilight.

Her face was painted crimson, and her mane was flayed outwards in a mess. Hunter then realised the compromising position he was in. Right on top of Twilight.


	4. Prologue Part 4

Her face was painted crimson, and her mane was flayed outwards in a mess. Hunter then realised the compromising position he was in. Right on top of Twilight.

Hunter jumped up in alarm and surprise. Before he could begin to apologize, Twilight poofed out into a purple haze.

Aaaaaaaand there she go. Fuck.

He realized another detail. They had been in front of the celebration. What a scene! Hunter awkwardly rubbed his neck with his hooves before he grabbed a nearby pie and smashed his face in it. This elicited a shout of celebration, and the party was back on.

I was just standing there and- he poofed, and then- he fell on me- an- Ahhhhh!

Twilight was still quite hot from the ordeal at the party. She was churning her brain, or at least attempting to, thinking of what was to come next. They had agreed prior to the little event that Hunter was to sleep in Twilight's castle..two rooms over. What a world she lived in.

She heard a knock.

And then another one.

Twilight slowly trotted towards the door. She grabbed the doorknob with her magic and slightly opened it. She poked her head out..and almost right into Hunter's face.

Hunter was bent over attempting to read the small words that were embedded in the doorknob when a purple face almost mashed into his. He jerked his head back in time to see Twilight collapse out onto the floor right in front of him. "So how's the weather down there?" asked Hunter sarcastically. He attempted something he hadn't before. He focused on his horn and on Twilight. His green aura enveloped Twilight and set her upright. He now stood up and took a look at Twilight.

What a mess we have here. What a cute mes- wait what? No. That's not- where did that come from? Wait, I have someone waiting for me back at home. Why these thoughts? Ugh!

Hunter snapped out of his daze and realised Twilight had gone back inside with haste. He pushed the entrance doors open and was greeted with the same view he had gotten a few days ago. He walked through the halls for a couple of minutes before realising and admitting he lost himself. He wandered aimlessly until he came across a purple door. It looked fancy and was slightly ajar. Hunter pushed it open..

Twilight was now in her room, breathing heavily. She had sprinted from the front entrance to her room in seconds. She was now going through the bottom shelf of her bookcase in an attempt to find the book necessary to open a portal to the human world.

Hunter poked his head in the room and was greeted by Twilight's ass stuck up from her crouched position. Hunter quickly took a step back and looked at the beautiful design of..Twilight's ass. He pulled his wandering eyes away completely, making a full turn to avoid having Twilight in his vision.

Twilight heard a noise and looked up to see Hunter in her room looking at nothing in particular. He was completely turned away from Twilight, giving her a view of his back. It made her stop. His back had a scar which was quite visible. It was in the shape if a cross and covered the majority of his left side. She was slowly moving closer to Hunter. She raised a hoof and hovered over the scar. Hunter turned his head around just in time to see her stop. He froze. Her hoof was almost touching his scar. He took a small step away from Twilight, uncomfortable with the idea of anyone touching his scar. Twilight was saddened internally at the movement. Hunter cleared his throat. "Can you get me back to my world?"

"Oh, uh, yes! I just need to find the book I'm looking for. It should be riiiight..ah ha! Here we go: Portals to the Beyond. This book holds the way back for you. Only one copy. Alright let's see.." Twilight took the book in her magic and waltzed out of her room, Hunter jogging to keep up with her. "We need a couple of items for the portal. We need the Elements of Harmony, a structure similar to a door frame made of wood planks from Everfree trees, an item from the world you want to go to, and.. an alicorn tear? Strange ingredients. Well, let's get to it!"

Hunter followed Twilight out towards Ponyville. "I'll get the Elements of Harmony." Twilight said, turning to Hunter.

"I'll get the wood planks and an item from my world. Uh, we'll figure out later about the alicorn tear." And with that, they parted ways, each going to their respective location.

Within the dark recesses of the Slums, a place far from Equestria, a silhouette of a pony walked among the streets. At the sight, windows closed, doors shut quickly, and the streets became deathly silent. No pony dared to cross the pony that now walked the streets. The pony came up to small shop and stopped. The door opened slowly and let the pony enter.

"Tell me the report," an icy voice echoed through the shop.

"Yes, yes, of course your Mightiness. There was a report from the HCNS that my team managed to get their eyes on. A human named John Hunter Sulivan. He was flagged to go to Ponyville until he was sent back to his home planet." a small voice echoed back.

"Mmm. Good. Get Them ready. We're going to Ponyville."

Hunter now carried a green canteen and a pile of wood planks in his magic. This magic stuff was easy for Hunter. He was juggling the planks as he came to Twilight's castle. She was also arriving, followed by the rest of the girls, each wearing their respective Element.

Twilight began, "Alright, we're almost ready. We just need one more thing. An alicorn tear."

"How'n tarnation are we supposed to get that?" questioned Applejack.

"Wow, oh my gosh it's him again," began to whisper Rainbow Dash to Fluttershy, completely ignoring the conversation Twilight was in, "Isn't he the coolest?"

"Uh, yeah, he's.. interesting, but I think we're supposed to be paying attention to Twilight right now." Fluttershy pointed out.

"I am not hurting you," Hunter said sternly. "Isn't there some other way to get you to tear up other than pain and sadness?"

"What a gentlecolt.. how cliché. Ha! What, are you going to wrap Twilight in your strong hooves next?" Rarity said condescendingly.

At the comment, both Hunter and Twilight started sweating. Except, only Twilight grew red.

"Oh darling, I'm just poking fun at you, no need to get so.. hot." Rarity kept jabbing at them. Twilight was just so easy to fluster.

"Enough!" Everyone jumped at the sound of Fluttershy. "Why are we even going to do this? Who is going to need a portal here?"

"Wait a minute. Didn't you receive a message from Canterlot?" asked Twilight.

"Uh, we would know if we got mail." Rainbow Dash answered.

Everyone went silent.

"So they don't know," Hunter whispered to Twilight. "Where the hell did the message end, then?"

"I don't know!" whispered Twilight harshly. "I guess I have to make the cloak fall so they can see you."

"Okay. Listen up. We have some explaining to do. No one freak out. Alright Twilight, do your magic."

Twilight closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow. At the same time, Hunter began to shine until the light was too bright to look at directly. Everyone had turned their head and now looked back at Hunter, no longer shining. No longer a pony.

"I knew it!" Everyone jumped, once more, at the sound of Fluttershy. They all now turned their heads toward John. In his human form.

"So yeah, cloak so no panic was caused. And this is why we're getting the materials for this portal. Do you girls want me to go back to-"

"Yes!" they said in unison.

"We would feel a tad more comfortable to work alongside a pony." Applejack commented.

"Oh, I was actually referring to going back to my world, but ok. Twilight." John gestured to Twilight, and the whole process was revered. After the light settled, Hunter stood up tall. "Alright, let's build us a frame and solve the whole tear thing later."

And with that they began to take the planks. Hunter now appeared alongside the Mane Six, each with a working helmet, although Rarity's helmet looked more like..Rarity.

Hunter showcased some of his architecture skill..well tried to. He still wasn't so used to the pony body, and his sketches made him turn red in embarrassment. However, instead of laughing like he thought they were going to, they thanked him for trying. He was a bit confused but had no time to question it. Twilight now was drawing a, to Hunter, perfect model of the blueprint. He was amazed at the amount of detail that she could put into the sketch, and he it would have been remiss if him not to compliment her on it. She turned away, obviously not used to such things.


	5. Prologue End

They moved on to the next step: where would the portal be located. In the end, they all agreed it would be wise to build it inside Twilight's castle. And so they began to build. The portal was to stand at about seven feet tall, three feet wide, and four feet long with one foot distance from the actual entrance to the portal. The base of the frame of the portal was enchanted by the Elements of Harmony. Afterwards, they began with cutting. Applejack, Hunter, and, surprisingly to Hunter, Pinkie Pie being the muscle of the operation, began by placing planks in their location. Pinkie Pie inhaled before anyone could stop her. "Ohhhhhhhhh! We're working hard, each one a job, a portal just for you!" Hunter smiled as he saw they all fell into a rhythm of cutting the planks and throwing them into a neat pile. "We work and sing, so much fun it brings, and soon we'll be done!" They began to bring up the planks into their positions and began to magically fuse the planks into a structure. "So much fun, but then we'll be done," Pinkie Pie's song began to dim and sadden, "And then it'll be done, and you'll be gone, and we'll never see you again. How to say goodbye to someone we just met, it makes me sad and I think my eyes are getting wet," the work began to slow, matching the saddened rhythm of the song. "And then, we'll be done."

Hunter was shocked at the drastic turn Pinkie Pie's song took. They all stood staring at Pinkie Pie, and, true to her song, her eyes were glistening. The portal stood, finished. It looked at Hunter expectantly. He took out his canteen and slowly walked up to the portal. He placed it in the center, and the canteen began to glow blue and became suspended at the center of the portal. He looked back at the girls, and he was shocked once more. They stood around Pinkie Pie, trying to comfort her in vain.

Pinkie began to cry out, "I've never had to say goodbye to a friend I just met. Why am I so sad?" Pinkie Pie could not understand her sadness and neither could her friends. They heard hoof steps, and were slightly startled at the sudden appearance of Hunter. He stood tall, sad eyes looking down towards Pinkie Pie. He lowered himself down to his right front knee. Pinkie Pie stopped rubbing her eyes and looked at Hunter. Hunter gave her a soft smile.

"I guess I could stay a while. I don't think there's too much hurry to go back to my world." Pinkie Pie's eyes lit up, and she jumped onto Hunter, both falling back onto the floor, wrapped in a hug. Hunter could only laugh as the girls began to smile at the sight of a happy Pinkie Pie.

"You promise to stay for a while?" Pinkie Pie began to ask, "No, you Pinkie Promise?"

"I Pinkie Promise."

They all shared a hug in happiness. Twilight was ecstatic. She was beginning to feel giddy until she felt something wet on her cheek. A tear of happiness.

The tear began to glow and quickly joined the portal. Twilight's eyes grew larger than plates. The portal turned red, and it began to swirl. Hunter turned around with a smile that immediately fell at the sight of a red portal. He began to feel a pull towards the portal. He grew panicked, and he began to scrape the floor in an attempt to keep himself from moving. He grabbed a hold if a loose tile before it began to rip up, pulling him quickly towards the portal. A pink hoof grabbed a hold of his and slowed him. He looked up and saw the girls grabbing each other in an attempt to hold Hunter. He smiled.

Until a red tendril came out from the portal and took a hold of both of his back hooves. He could see the world slow. He stared at the six ponies that he just met, surprise and shock in their eyes, looked at the pink one he had just made a promise to, and looked at the red tendrils that were pulling him. He then looked at the horn that stood upon his head. He was a unicorn. The fact had not settled, until now. He drew from his horn, and he shot a beam of his magic, unknowingly fused with a certain other type of magic he was gifted earlier in his adventure, and hit the portal and tendrils. The tendrils grew limp, and the portal frame cracked in half, killing the portal. He fell to the ground, exhausted from the magic he expended.

He slowly began to stand. He was helped by his new friends when he struggled to walk. "Twilight, let me see that book." He requested.

"Oh, here," Twilight appeared the book in front of Hunter.

Hunter stared at the book. Back home, the doctors told him he was hopeless. His girlfriend hardly tried to make him feel. But here, in this new world, filled with small, adorable ponies, he could start to feel emotion. And he was not giving that up. Especially to make sure he kept his promise. He took a hold of the book and ripped it in half. The girls stood watching, mouths agape. He tore into the book, his only way back, until only a pile of pieces of paper remained. That, he used a bit of fire to light. And with that, he sealed his fate. Equestria was his new home.


	6. Stoopidity

MULTIPLE DISCLAIMERS: I DO NOT own MLP or any of their characters. I do own my own OCs but that's within the MLP world, so...credit where it's due. Secondly, I have never served in the military nor do I have any hands-on experience with guns. I am too lazy to search things up, so some things might be inaccurate. Along with that, there will be mature scenes of violence, language, and sex in the future, probably not this episode. You know, mature stuff. Just letting you know.

Hunter stood high up. On top of Twilight's castle.

"Shit. How do I get back down?"

His friends, six ponies of different coloration, stood on the ground. They looked up at Hunter, unsure of what to do. Hunter regretted his decisions. He made the mistake of doing magic unsupervised and now was stuck on the roof of the castle. He had attempted to teleport before but no attempt was as crazy and erratic as his last. His horn had begun to glow dark green instead of his normal green, and now he was scared of using it.

So Hunter now stood up high. His friends had been talking amongst themselves, hopefully about how to get him down. However, he began to shit himself, not actually, when he saw them disperse and leave.

"Hello? Anyone down there? Uh, could use some help! Hello?" Hunter sat his sorry ass onto the roof. Actually, it was more of the big ass star that covered most of Twilight's castle's upper half. Hunter was between a crevice of said star. He looked up at his horn. It was not to be trusted in the near future. And so Hunter began to brainstorm ways of getting down. His friends would pay later for leaving him. Pranks will befall the poor victims. But as of right now, Hunter carried out scenarios of how to get down.

He first looked at the nearest platform. It was the balcony of the castle. The fall looked to be around twenty to twenty-five yards. That would be his last choice.

He looked around the star. Nothing seemed to resemble rope or anything that would lower him. He looked at the towers of the castle. At an angle, the towers could give him enough space to land. However, the fall was still at around fifteen yards. Pain and most likely death. He needed a way to fall no more than six yards or to slow his descent. He remembers the one thing he always carried on his body, pony or not. His knife. Sorry Twilight, but the castle could use some scratches. Hunter took his knife out from its place, his own pocket dimension.

Discord had revealed to him the extent of the power he was gifted which included a convenient pocket dimension that could hold small items. Discord taught him, begrudgingly. That was a couple of weeks ago. Hunter remembered the day he had arrived in Equestria and how he ripped his only ticket and way home. He was not regretting it, just reminiscing. Actually, only slightly regretting it. Twilight was pissed with him for daring to destroy a book. But that story is for another day.

Right now, Hunter now held a knife in his hoof. Weeks of basic movement were taught to Hunter by Twilight and Applejack. They had him do exercises to get used to his pony form. Holding items, grabbing items, controlling his walking and running, a couple of magic exercises, such as telekinesis and a few elemental spells.

Twilight admitted one thing to Hunter; she didn't know the full extent of the cloak Hunter had. Hunter was about to find out.

He held himself in a crouched position, knife in hoof. He looked at the balcony and to the castle peak. He would have to jump with momentum and stab his knife into the castle. That was the hard part. He needed all of his strength. Truthfully, Hunter didn't know if his knife would penetrate the castle wall. He could just hope it would.

He readied himself. Crouch. Jump.

Hunter flew downwards toward the castle at a quick speed. Hunter drew his knife back and plunged it into the castle wall. The force of his jab began to trace a line onto the castle, and Hunter was slowing. He was at about fifteen yards away from the balcony when his knife betrayed him. The knife blade broke in half, leaving one half in the castle. Hunter's eyes grew large as he could now see the balcony approach him at a fast speed. He closed his eyes. Thud! The air in his lungs left him. He felt the air around him snap, and he felt himself worm and writhe. He opened his eyes. He touched his body for injuries. He.. wasn't a pony anymore. The cloak broke, also breaking the fall and avoiding injury. Almost like a second skin or body shield. "Fuck yeah! I'm not dead!"

John, as his name changed depending on his form, collapsed onto the ground and immediately began to snore.

"Alright girls! We have the trampoline, helmet, and pillows. Now let's set- Wait. Where's Hunter?" The girls had gone off to find items to help Hunter down. Applejack was tied to a wagon that held a trampoline, helmet, and about a dozen pillows. They looked around the star before realizing Hunter had jumped.

"Oh no! Poor Hunter. He. He. Owes me ten bits! Hunter, where are ya?" Applejack began to shout.

The girls shook their heads in amusement and began to search the castle.

John stood from his nap. He stretched and scratched his ass. He stood up and began to walk aimlessly through the castle. He was still quite asleep.

After Pinkie Pie raided the cabinets, she bounded off upstairs and ran head first into John. John collapsed backward, the impact waking him completely.

"Oh cripes! What gives?" John rubbed his chin and looked down at the floor. Pinkie Pie was sprawled out in a heap of pink. She had a smile on her face.

"Found ya! Hey, how come you're not a pony?" Pinkie Pie began to jump around Hunter. She made her fifth orbit around John before he suddenly stood up. He brushed himself off and looked down at Pinkie Pie, a smile growing on his face.

"Alright, you found me. Let's go look for the rest. Lead the way!"

"Okie Dokie!"

As the two made their way down the stairs, a mischievous grin grew on John's face. As Pinkie Pie reached the bottom step, she turned to comment to John about the jump when she realized John had disappeared. She shrugged before shrieking and disappearing into a large brown sack. John tied the sack. His plans were now in motion: Operation Counter-Prank.

The girls heard a shriek and quickly came back into the main entrance room. They looked at each other, worried.

"Oh dear. That was Pinkie Pie. Do you think it was Hunter?" Rarity proposed.

"Hunter made Pinkie Pie shriek? But why?" asked Fluttershy.

"Hunter.. and she shrieked.. hmm.." Twilight tried but failed to stop the blush that was appearing. Since the first day of Hunter's stay, Twilight had been ignoring the weird feelings she had been feeling. She had never felt this way before in her life, evidently so, due to "not having enough time." But that was her excuse when she had been studying at Celestia's school. She had her "alicorn duties," which never fooled anyone. She had been angry at Hunter for destroying such a priceless artifact, but when he had begun to explain himself, she could only sigh. It was true; that book was the only way back for him to Earth. He could not use the way she had used to go to Canterlot High. She had read about temporal cracks in time and space, and it didn't sound fun. He was truly glued to Equestria and the world around it. And she was with him as well.

"Uh, Twilight! Yo, Twilight! Are you daydreaming again?" Rainbow Dash's voice interrupted her thinking. "We're still trying to figure out what to do next. Care to join?"

"Oh! Uh, sorry. I'm just thinking: do you think Hunter likes to live here?"

Everypony turned to Twilight. "Whatever do you mean, dear?" Rarity asked with arched eyebrows. "He's been happy ever since that book was destroyed."

Twilight winced at hearing book and destroyed in the same sentence. "Yeah, I know. It's just, he was put in Equestria without a choice. I don't know if he really understands what happened, not even I, for that matter. Do you ever wonder if.. he might be unhappy?"

There was a moment of silence and unease. The serious atmosphere was broken by laughter that seemed to be fading.

"Come on! Let's not let them get far." Rainbow Dash said as she began to zoom through the halls. Everypony else followed.

"What are you going to do to me? No, get that away from me! No!" Pinkie Pie cried out as a large silhouette loomed over her, its limbs extending down toward her. The limbs began to assault her with a weapon of mass tickle, and the large shape came into view. John was smirking as his first victim writhed and begged for mercy. But no one would get any.

The weapon in his hand was his trusty feather, which was purple and belonged to Twilight. Definitely not weird.

He stopped his tickle attack and let Pinkie Pie sober up before resuming his assault.

"St- Stop! Wait! Ahaha! Wait!"

"Only if you help me get my revenge"

"I will! I beg, no more tickles!"

"Alright, only if you Pinkie promise"

"I Pinkie promise!"

John grinned at his success. He now had a recruit for his cause. It was time for plans to start moving.


End file.
